Promotion effect of different lanthanide doping on Co/Al2O3 catalyst for dry reforming of methane.

In this paper, a series of cobalt catalysts modified by different lanthanide metals were synthesized via co-impregnation method using inexpensive industrial-grade alumina as a support for dry reforming of methane. The effect of lanthanide metals as accelerators of cobalt-based catalysts on catalytic performance and anti-coking properties was mainly investigated. The textural relationships between the catalytic performance and physicochemical properties of cobalt-based catalysts doped with different lanthanide metals were further investigated. Different characterization techniques demonstrate the positive effect of lanthanide metals on the physicochemical properties of catalysts. The results show that the electron transfer between cobalt species and lanthanide metal oxides is significantly enhanced due to the introduction of lanthanide elements. The process generates more active sites, which is favorable for the adsorption and activation of methane. In addition, the abundant medium basic sites and oxygen vacancies on the surface of cobalt-based catalysts with the effect of lanthanides promoted the adsorption and activation of carbon dioxide and the gasification of carbon accumulation, which greatly improved the anti-carbon accumulation performance of the catalysts. Therefore, the prepared cobalt-lanthanum-based catalysts showed the best catalytic effect and have great potential for application. • The introduction of lanthanides enhances the electron transfer ability of Co species. • The introduction of lanthanides enhanced the anti-coking performance of the catalyst. • The introduced lanthanides provide abundant active sites for the activation of CH 4 and CO 2. • It provides an efficient and economical strategy for the industrial application of dry methane reforming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]